Tone-modifier for talking-machines



F. W. COOLEY.

TONE MODiFlER FOR TALKING MACHINES.

APPLlCATlONfILED MAR. 29, 1920.

1,352 1 15, Patented Sept. 7, 1920.

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fi/ f indicate like FRED W. COOLEY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TONE-MODIFIER FOR TALKING-MACHINES.

Application filed March 29, 1920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED WV, CooLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tone- Modifiers for Talking-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use th same.

My invention relates to sound reproducing machines generally designated as talking machines or phonographs, has for its object to improve the tone qualities thereof, and is in the nature of an improvement on or modification of the tone modifier disclosed and claimed in in pending application S. N. 303,711, filed une 12, 1919.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

F igure 1 is view chiefly in side elevation, but with some parts in section showing the invention applied to the tone arm of the ma chine;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken through the tone modifier on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3ofFig.1;

Fig. 4 is a section on the same line as Fig. 2, but showing only the outer tube of the tone modifier;

Figs. 5 and 6 are views corresponding to Fig. 4, but illustrating slightly modified forms of the connection between the inner and outer tubes of the tone modifier.

The tone arm 7 which is of the usual construction, is in the customary way, swiveled to a sleeve 8 that has a flange 9 secured to the sound chamber 10 with its reduced lower end projected downward through the top of the sound chamber. At its lower end, the sleeve 8 is threaded and provided with a flanged annular clamping nut or collar 11. The numeral 12 indicates a wooden tube, the body of which is very Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 7, 1920. Serial No. 369.529.

thin, but the upper end of which is slightly increased 111 thickness, so as to afford a should r adapted to be engaged by the flange of the nut 11, when the upper end of said tube 12 is inserted into the lower end of the thick metal sleeve 8. Thus, the resilient outer tube 12 may be rigidly, but detachably secured to the fixed supporting sleeve.

The numeral 13 indicates an inner resilient wooden tube that is of considerably smaller diameter than the outer tube 12 and is concentrically secured therein with free dom for vibratory movements, by means of a. connecting device of novel construction and the preferred form of which is illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, to which attention is now, particularly, directed. To the interior of the outer tube 12, preferably near the lower end thereof, is rigidly secured by screws or other suitable means, a pair of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extended bearing lugs 14 (see particularly Figs. 3 and 4). The lower portion of the inner tube 13 is anchored against these two bearing lugs 14, but for direct engagement with said lugs, said inner tube, on its outer surface, is preferably provided with a cushioning sheet 15 of pliable material, such as felt, soft leather, or the like, which latter may be secured to the exterior of said tube 13 by wax, or other adhesive material. The lugs 14 are preferably of wood.

A block 16, preferably of wood, fits within the lower portion of the inner tube 13, but between the cylindrical surface thereof and the interior surface of the tube 13 a cushion ing sheet 17 of felt, soft leather, or the like, is preferably interposed. This pliable sheet 17 may be stuck to the block 16 by wax or other adhesive material. lVhen the cushioning sheets 15 and 17 are of a porous material, such as felt, their outer surfaces will preferably be covered or filled with powdered rosin.

Small nut-equipped bolts 18 are passed through perforations in the outer tube 12 and through tapered holes in the inner tube 13 and block 16, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The above noted bolt holes in the outer tube 12 are, in Fig. 4, designated by the numeral 19. These holes 19 and the nutequipped bolts 18, it is important to note, are located, one above and the other below the central portions of the bearing lugs 1 1. When the nuts of the bolts 18 are tightened, the two resilient tubes 12 and 13 willbe securely clamped together approximately at one spot, and the pliable cushioning sheets 15 and 17 will be compressed so that they will transmit vibrations from the one tube to the other, and very greatly deaden such vibration, but hold the inner tube free for vibration throughout nearly its entire portion.

The inner tube 13 should be kept in axial alinement and concentric with the outer tube 12 and thereis a tendency for the upper end of the tube 13 to be out of alinement with the upper end of the upper tube 12. This, however, may be easily corrected by tightening one of the bolts 18 and loosening the otheruntil the exact proper alinement is effected. Moreover, by adjustment of the two bolts, play can always be taken up and the proper tension between the two resilient tubes, as well as the relative adjustments thereof, may always be maintained. it will, of course, be understood that the pliable cushioning sheets 15 and 17 will yield slightly, so as to permit of the above noted adjustment of the one tube in respect to the other.

The clamping block 16 also affords an ideal support for a tension device for putting the resilient inner tube 13 normally under slight tension, so as to thereby improve the sound producing function thereof. This tension device, asshown and preferred, is'in the form of a spring fork 20 formed from a piece of spring steel wire bent into the form of a hair pin and having itsprongs passed through longitudinal perforations formed in the said block 16. The ends of,

the prongs of the tension device 20 are bent laterally for engagement with the interior surface of the upper portion of the inner tube 18. The prongs of the tension device or fork 20, when applied as described, are under spring strain and exert pressure against the inr'fer surface of the inner tube. Just in what manner this spring tension device acts to improve the tone quality of the tone modifier cannot be stated with cer tainty, but that it does improve the same has been thoroughly demonstrated in practicc. It seems to stop over vibrations of the inner tube and to. put the same under such tension that it will respond only to an act in synchronism with the sound waves passed therethrough from, the tone arm. The fork 20 will be frictionally held in any position in, which it may be set but is capable of slight longitudinal adjustments in the block 16 and may, therefore, be adjusted frequently, so that its points will engage the inner tube where the best tone producing quality will be effected.

By reference to Fig. 1, it will be noted that the lower end of the outer tube 12, at one side, is obliquely cut at 12, so as to expose a portion of the lower end of the inner tube 13.

The outer resilient tube 12 shown in Fig. 5, instead of having the elongated bearing lugs 14, is provided with boss-like circular interior bearing lugs 1 1 but otherwise, the construction may be the same as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4-,-inclusive.

The resilient tube 12 shown in Fig. 6 is provided with a still further modified form of bearing lugs, the same, in this case, being made up of a piece of covered or insulated wire 1 1 bent into ti-shaped form and applied so as to afford a substitute for the bearing lugs 14.

What 1 claim is:

1. The combination with the tone arm of a sound reproducing machine, of a resilient tube spaced therefrom and located where the sound waves will pass therethrough on their from said tone arm into the sounding chamber of said machine, a block secured to the interior of said resilient tube, and a spring tension device anchored to said block but capable of axial adjustments in respect to said block in a direction axially of said tube.

2. The combination with the tone arm of a sound reproducing machine, of concentric outer and inner tubes spaced apart and located where the sound waves will pass therethrough on their way from said tone arm into the sound chamber of said machine, and a connection between said tubes, said connection being adjustable to rock said inner tube in a radial plane of the tubes, to thereby axially aline the two tubes.

The combination with the tone arm of a sound reproducing machine, of concentric outer and inner tubes spaced apart and located where the sound waves will pass vtherethrough on their way from said tone arm into the sound chamber of said machine, and a connection between said tubes, said connection being adjustable to rock said inner tube in a radial plane of the tubes, to thereby axially aline the two tubes, said connection including a compressible element interposed between the two tubes.

1. The combination with the tone arm of a sound reproducing machine, of concentric outer and inner tubes spaced apart and located where the sound waves will pass therethrough on their way from said tone arm into the sound chamber of said machine, and a connection between the tubes at one side only thereof, comprising a compressible element interposed between the two tubes, and independently adjustable clamping bolts-spaced axially of the tubes, to adjust said inner tube in a radial plane of the tubes.

The combination with the tone arm of a sound reproducing machine, of concentric resilient inner and outer tubes, circumferentiztlly spaced lugs interposed between the two tubes, at one side thereof, and clamping devices connecting two said tubes at ditferl0 ent points longitudinally thereof and in the immediate vicinity of said lugs.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature.

FRED W. COOLEY. 

